Mahatma Gandhi, a thinker amongst other things
Mahatma Gandhi is quite possibly the only name that if not heard, then the man’s face is seen by everyone in India. He accomplished a lot in his lifetime and was a central figure in liberating India from the colonial rule of the British Empire. A reign that lasted well over two centuries before we could call ourselves independent.
The title of “father of the nation” was bestowed upon him post-mortem. He was a lawyer that stood against racial prejudice, he was a leader that made space for being questioned but never crumbled in front of hate. He was a preacher that practised his own teachings. And it was for his views that didn’t fit well with a group of people that he was assassinated.
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was a pacifist, he believed in spirituality being a means of self-betterment and he led a simple life. He was one of the few leaders that came forward in times of great oppression and prejudice against an enslaved India and said we won’t do the same to them. He taught people how the British waged a psychological war against us first, a more invisible battle to strike a crack in Indian unity.
He saw through the divide-and-rule strategy of the monarchy and he warned people to not be naïve enough to fall for it. He led major revolutions and revolts such as the salt movement. The man went to jail a few times, he took on abuse and hatred by the British and in that unbearable pain and misery he didn’t falter from his values. He set an example for the younger minds in India.
Mahatma Gandhi was a thinker who formed values and virtues partly from religion and partly from the harsh reality of life and its experiences. In that pursuit, he became the man he was and liberated a country that would become a global superpower. He might not be here, but the children of the ‘father of India’ live on to carry his legacy.
Some Lesser known facts about Mahatma Gandhi
As global as his impact was, the consensus on the acknowledgement of his contribution to the world is generally misinformed. He was recognized, in fact, he was named The Times Magazine Man of the Year 1930. An accomplishment that wasn’t an objective but a consequence of his life. He was labelled as ‘Saint Gandhi’ in the actual print.
The title of ‘Mahatma’, loosely translating to ‘great soul’ has stuck with his name and seemingly no one questioned this for a long time. Questioning meaning- where the title came from. In 2016 at Gujarat high court a ruling confirmed that the Sanskrit-originated title came from Rabindranath Tagore, who himself was one of the greats.
It’s a common fact that Mahatma Gandhi did great things as part of his charity work in the Sabarmati Ashram. What’s lesser known is that he used to write replies to mails sent to him by the younger generation and particularly children. These letters had significance in the thoughts and views they conveyed to inspire these minds- they were however written in bad handwriting.
Speaking of letters, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was an avid writer and a very articulate thinker. He had thus, a long-running correspondence with one of the greatest authors of all time, Leo Tolstoy. The very fact that they knew each other at all, is rather unknown and that they had a correspondence is even more still.
Probably a coincidence, yet a lesser-known fact is that he was born and assassinated on a Friday. He lived to see India get its freedom and the day we were declared an independent nation was also a Friday. The collective works of Mahatma Gandhi’s life stand at a whopping 50,000 plus pages of feature-length print.
His efforts to promote peace and sovereignty in the world were so great that he was nominated five times for the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize. The British Monarchy acknowledged his impact on the culture and history of the world and a postal stamp commemorating his life was released 21 years after his death in Britain.
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